Man oh man, but our grandmothers and their mothers and grandmothers before them knew how to take a lot of nothing and turn it into something sublime. I don’t mean to say that the ingredients in classic shoo fly pie are dumb–they’re all pretty much pantry staples–but there were no fancy or gourmet ingredients necessary. Pies have been around forever, and certainly well before gourmet grocery stores were peddling rarefied ingredients to the masses. Seriously, check out the ingredient list for the filling:
- flour
- brown sugar
- butter
- molasses
- hot water
- egg
- baking soda
- salt
I can pretty much guarantee that you have all these ingredients with the possible exception of the molasses which is readily available at grocery stores right by the corn syrup and other baking sweeteners.
Classic Shoo Fly Pie![Classic Shoo Fly Pie is pretty much a perfect pie. Made using only pantry staples, if you've never made one--or pie in general--this is a great place to start. It truly is a classic, and everyone should try it. Superb! | pastrychefonline.com]()
My first introduction to classic shoo fly pie was in the song. Do you know the one?
Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pandowdy
make your eyes light up and your tummy say howdy.
Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pandowdy,
I never get enough of that wonderful stuff!
I love this version by the way! I knew the song because my mom used to sing it around the house. From the context, I figured that shoo fly pie and apple pandowdy were Not To Be Missed, but I never had either until I made a classic shoo fly pie the other day. And I have yet to make apple pandowdy, although I expect that will change pretty soon!
Shoo Fly pie is most popular in and around Amish and Mennonite communities in Pennsylvania whose cooks are known for making delicious food alchemy with basic pantry ingredients. Moravian Sugar Cake, anyone? Right? I referenced the ingredient list for classic shoo fly pie up at the top. The original recipe most likely contained lard, and the recipe I based my version on called for shortening which wasn’t invented until 1910 and certainly wasn’t an ingredient in the pies made by the settlers who came to Pennsylvania in the early to mid-1700’s.
Shoo Fly Pie is put together in a really interesting way. There are two basic components: a streusel made without too much fat and a molasses and egg syrup. Seems like there is no one right way to make a shoo fly pie. Some people layer have the streusel on the bottom of the crust, pour in the syrup and then add the rest of the streusel on top. My friend Joe Pastry makes his beautiful version by actually stirring the streusel into the molasses syrup making a batter that bakes into a cake-ish layer on top and a gooey layer of molasses underneath.
I rather liked the idea of having a very light-colored top and then being surprised by the very dark filling once you cut into it, so I layered about 1/4 of my streusel into the crust followed by half the syrup, another 1/4 of the streusel, and then the rest of the syrup. I topped the whole guy with the remaining streusel and then baked him up.
Another interesting thing about the pie is the use of baking soda. You whisk it into the molasses with hot water and then an egg. The baking soda changes the color of the mixture, making it lighter. I’m pretty sure what is happening is not unlike the Dutch process for making cocoa powder: alkalizing. You take an acidic ingredient (cocoa powder, molasses) and introduce a substance with a high pH (a base, such as baking soda). This raises the pH of the original ingredient into neutral territory, and it can tone down bitterness quite a bit. These days, the unsulfured we use is pretty mild, but I bet back in the days of the original Amish and Mennonite settlers in Pennsylvania, the molasses they used could have curled your hair! Strong stuff!
Enough singing and talking, talking and singing. Ready to make some classic shoo fly pie? Let’s get to it!
My recipe is based very closely on a recipe posted to allrecipes.com by user D. Stultz. She says it was her grandmother’s recipe. The only things I changed were to scale back the amount of filling after reading that some folks had too much filling, to use butter rather than shortening in the streusel and to add a heavy pinch of salt. Otherwise, this is all D. Stutz’s grandmother’s baby.
- 1 9:" pie shell (not deep dish), docked and frozen* (See Note)
- 4.5 oz (about 1 cup) all purpose flour
- 4.7 oz (about ⅔ cup, packed) dark or light brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
- 9 oz (3/4 cup) molasses
- 4.5 oz (1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon) hot water
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- heavy pinch kosher salt (about ¼ teaspoon)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour and the brown sugar. Rub in the butter very well so there are no little bits of butter remaining. The mixture should look about like cornmeal and should clump together when you squeeze it and then sort of fall apart if you poke it. Squeeze some together so you have some pebbles of streusel and leave some of it sandy.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the molasses and hot water. Thoroughly whisk in the baking soda and salt. Mixture may get sort of frothy and will definitely lighten in color. Thoroughly whisk in the beaten egg.
- Layer about ¼ of the streusel in the bottom of your frozen pie shell.
- Evenly pour in about half the molasses mixture followed by another quarter of the streusel.
- Pour on the last of the molasses mixture and then top the pie with the remaining streusel. This layer will be pretty thick and you probably won't be able to see the filling underneath.
- Carefully place the pie on the center rack of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 350F.
- Continue baking for about 15 more minutes then cover the pie loosely with foil to prevent excessive browning of the crust. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until the pie is nicely puffed up all over. It will settle as it cools.
- Serve warm or barely warm with lighely sweetened (or even unsweetened) whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.
And that is really all there is to it! This is a truly delicious pie. The barely set, sort of woogly texture of the molasses layer is balanced by the sandy crispness of the streusel on top. Simple and easy and pure comfort. Please, if you’ve never tried classic shoo fly pie, don’t miss out. There’s a reason why it’s a classic!
Thank you for spending some time with me today. I appreciate it.
Have a lovely day.
The post Classic Shoo Fly Pie | #tbtfood appeared first on Jenni Field's Pastry Chef Online.
